This is the lowest ever monthly sales reported by Maruti S-Presso since launch in Oct 2019 – Minus the lockdown months
Maruti Suzuki has 14 passenger vehicles on sale in India via Arena and Nexa dealerships. Along with Alto, S-Presso sits at the entry level of the Maruti Suzuki lineup. S-Presso is the second cheapest vehicle on offer by the Indian auto giant.
This small car is offered with Std, LXi, VXi, VXi Plus trims. It is offered with value added options like AMT transmission and CNG fuel choices that keep running costs in check. Maruti Suzuki has axed some of its variants off the lineup in a recent exercise. The company hasn’t disclosed the reason for this move.
In June 2022, Maruti S-Presso sales were down to just 652 units. This is the lowest ever monthly sales posted by Maruti S-Presso, except the lockdown months April 2020 and May 2020. In the initial months post launch, S-Press sales were averaging 10k units. But slowly sales declined to about 5-7k units a month.
Maruti Suzuki S-Presso Sales Decline
Taking last 12 months sales report of S-Presso into consideration, a total of 64k units were sold at a monthly avg of 5.3k units. It came as a huge surprise when sales were down to just 652 units in June 2022. There is no update as to why there has been this huge sales decline for S-Presso. In June 2021, S-Presso sales were at 4,926 units. This indicates a 87% YoY decline while MoM decline is at 85%.
Maruti Suzuki S-Presso is powered by a 1.0L K10B 3-cylinder petrol engine making 67 bhp of power at 5500 RPM and 90 Nm of torque at 3500 RPM. This engine is mated to either a 5-speed manual or 5-speed AMT. It also got a CNG kit dubbed as S-CNG tech that came fitted right off the factory. In CNG mode, the engine only makes 58 bhp of power at 5500 RPM and 78 Nm of torque at 3500 RPM. CNG option was only offered with LXi and VXi trims.
Maruti Suzuki S-Presso Variants Discontinued
Coming to the variants that were discontinued, there are six in total. Base Std, LXi, LXi CNG, VXi, VXi AMT and VXi CNG. With this move, the new base model is Std (O). Maruti Suzuki S-Presso prices now start from Rs. 3.98 lakh (ex-sh) for base Std (O) and goes till VXi Plus AMT and VXi (O) CNG. Currently, variants on sale are, Std (O), LXi (O), VXi (O), VXi Plus, VXi (O) AMT, VXi Plus AMT, LXi (O) CNG and lastly, VXi (O) CNG.
All the variants that didn’t get the (O) optional package with respect to trims except for top-spec VXi Plus trim are discontinued. With variants without the optional package, except for top-spec VXi Plus trim, only one airbag as standard. With the optional package, Maruti Suzuki offered front passenger-side airbag and driver seat belt pre-tensioner as standard for an additional cost of around Rs. 10,000 (ex-sh).
When Maruti Suzuki S-Presso was crash tested by Global NCAP under Safer Cars For India campaign, it was tested on base Std variant without front passenger airbag and seat belt pre-tensioners. It scored 0-stars as a result. But recently, when a made-in-India S-Presso was crash tested in South Africa, it scored 3-stars.
This test was conducted by Global NCAP under the Safer Cars For Africa campaign. The variant tested was an (O) variant and had front passenger airbag and seat belt pre-tensioners as standard fitment. So, with lessons learned, Maruti Suzuki seems to have taken all the unsafe variants off sale and only offer variants that can score 3-star crash safety rating. Amid all the concerns Maruti Suzuki raised towards Indian Government’s new safety protocols like Bharat NCAP, it is a commendable move by India’s largest PV maker. Currently, in terms of genre, S-Presso only competes with Renault Kwid.
